Cancer among indigenous populations: The experience of American samoans

Abstract

BACKGROUND.Little is known about the cancer control needs of American Samoans. This report provides Some of the first data on cancer incidence among Anierican Samoans in Hawaii. METHODS. The Hawaii Tumor Registry, a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and EndResults population-based, active cancer surveillance program, provided archival data on American Samoans residing in Hawaii and on those referred to Hawaii for diagnosis and treatment from the U.S. Territory of American Samoa. RESULTS.In American Samoan males, the more commonly encountered cancers included cancer of the lung, prostate, stomach and liver, and leukemia. In American Samoans females, breast carcinoma was most frequent, followed by cancer of the corpus uteri, cervix uteri and thyroid, and leukemia. Females were more likely than males to receive a diagnosis of cancer at an early age: 34.5% of females and 19.9% of males with cancer were diagnosed when they were between the ages of 0 and 44 years. Males were more likely than females to be diagnosed with cancer after metastasis had occurred (45% vs. 33.9%). Compared with other Polynesians (i.e., Western Samoans and Hawaiians), American Samoan males have a relatively higher frequency of lung, prostate, thyroid, and liver cancers and a lower frequency of colon and rectum cancers. American Samoan females, compared with other Polynesians, have a higher frequency of leukemia and corpus uteri, thyroid, and pancreatic cancers and a lower frequency of colon and rectum cancers. CONCLUSIONS.The data provide baseline information that has important public health and research implications for cancer control programs for this population.

Breast Cancer Screening among Chamorro Women in Southern California

“…5,11,12 Our findings reiterate the importance of higher income, health insurance, married status, and older age as correlates of baseline breast cancer screening. Perhaps unique among our findings, however, was the positive association between traditional health practices and breast cancer screening.…”

“…3 Higher death rates are in large part due to late stage at diagnosis, as only 71% of native Hawaiian women over 40 years of age had ever had a mammogram, and 59% reported having had a mammogram during the past 2 years. 4 Breast cancer is also the most common cancer by site for American Samoans, with an age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.8 for risk of cancer in Amer-ican Samoans compared with Anglos diagnosed in Los Angeles County, 5 but only 44% had ever had a mammogram. 6 Guam is the westernmost territory of the United States, and Chamorros are indigenous Guamanians who constitute approximately 47% of the island's 150,000 population.…”

Electronic Cigarette Use and Associated Risk Factors in U.S.-Dwelling Pacific Islander Young Adults

“…This is especially true for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs): a rapidly growing US racial group persistently understudied in extant literature. Due to their exposure to heavy US colonization and historical trauma (Kaholokula, 2007;Yamada, 2004), NHPIs are affected by myriad health disparities (McElfish et al, 2015;Mishra et al, 1996) including vulnerability to substance use; underscoring the need to investigate e-cigarette use and its relationships to other commonly used substances in NHPIs.…”

Increasing Pap Smear Utilization among Samoan Women: Results from a Community Based Participatory Randomized Trial

“…The initial series of studies addressed important components of the community-identified action plan. [16][17][18][23][24][25] Based on the findings of these studies, the Territory's Senate and House representatives passed a unanimous resolution (subsequently endorsed by the religious leaders and traditional chiefs) that underscored the need for appropriate cancer control and prevention educational programs. The intervention trial reported herein resulted directly from the resolution and community-identified needs.…”

“…Cervical cancer is not an uncommon cancer among Samoan women. Samoan women have a higher site-specific incidence of cervical cancer than non-Hispanic White women 17 and Hawaiian women 18 , with cervical cancer accounting for 7.2% and 8.2% of all cancers diagnosed among Samoan women in Los Angeles and Hawaii, respectively. In addition, Samoan women are more likely to receive a cancer (all cancers combined) diagnosis at an earlier age and at a latter stage of the disease 18 .…”